extras

notes

AUGUSTINE'S MISSION TO THE ENGLISH

St. Augustine of Canterbury was prior of the Abbey of St. Andrew in Rome when the Pope chose him for the mission to Kent. Known as “The Apostle of the English,” he was Archbishop of Canterbury from 597 until his death in 604. Augustine was sent from Rome in 595, and two years later arrived in Kent, which at the time was ruled by Æthelbehrt (reigned ca. 585–616). Æthelbehrt was married to Bertha, the daughter of the Christian Merovingian king Charibert I.

To see the beginning of this chapter in one of the oldest manuscripts of Bede (Cotton Tiberius A XIV), copied at Bede's own monastery of Jarrow in about 750, go to theBritish Library Online Gallery.

Tanatos: the island of Thanet (see map). Before Kent’s conversion to Christianity, Thanet was a center of the worship of Thunor (Thor). Thanet is no longer an island (see note below on fluvius Vantsumu).

insūla nōn modica: take in apposition to Tanatos (“Thanet, an island…”). An example of litotes.

(5) dē gente Francōrum interpretēs: Frankish interpreters. Augustine and his companions, coming from Rome, would have spoken Latin, and would have needed those who could translate from Latin to Frankish, which would have been spoken, or at least understood, at the Kentish court.

mittēns … mandāvit: Bede shifts from the plural subject of accēperunt (i.e., all the missionaries) to the singular subject of mandāvit (i.e., Augustine).

quī … promitteret: the structure is: (nuntius) quī gaudia et regnum prōmitteret sibi obtemperantibus: “which promised joys and a kingdom to those who obey it.” The subjunctive is normal in a subordinate clause in indirect discourse (AG 592). It is also possible to take the antecedent of quī as Augustine himself, in which case the relative clause expresses the purpose of his coming from Rome (AG 531.2). In this reading, sibi refers to Augustine: “he sent word that he had come to promise eternal joy ... to those obeying him.” There is perhaps an echo here of Hebrews 5:9 (Vulgate), speaking of Christ’s role as a chief priest (pontifex): factus est omnibus optemperantibus sibi causa salūtis aeternae (“he was made a cause of eternal salvation for all those obeying him”).

quem eī adiūtōrem fideī dederant: the antecedent of quem is episcopō, eī refers to Bertha, and the subject of dederant is her parents (“they”). Adiūtōrem is in apposition to quem: “whom they had given as a guide….”

inviolātum servāre: “to keep inviolate.”

Liudhardo: see PASE, Liudhard. He is “also known from a small gold medallion bearing his name, part of the St. Martin’s treasure, preserved in Liverpool City Museum. That he was a bishop must indicate the previous existence of a Christian community to whom he would minister. The implication of Bede’s account is that he was dead by 597” (McClure and Collins, p. 371).

KING ÆTHELBERHT GRANTS AUGUSTINE PERMISSION TO ESTABLISH A MISSION IN KENT

Æthelbehrt provided Augustine with a dwelling (mānsiō, 13) in Canterbury, where Augustine established his episcopal see. Augustine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury, from 597 until his death in ca. 604.

superventū suō: refers to the missionaries: “at their arrival on the scene.” Ablative of time when (AG 423).

malificae artis: Partitive genitive after the neuter indefinite pronoun (AG 346.a.3). In English, the “of” can be omitted (“if they had any…”). Æthelberht is afraid the missionaries will practice witchcraft upon him, and evidently the superstition is that witchcraft is more effective if practiced indoors.

superāndō dēciperent: Bede reverses causality here: he writes “they would deceive him by overcoming him” when we might expect “they would overcome him by deceiving him.”

(10) illī: the missionaries

imāginem … depictam: i.e., an icon

prō suā: with salūte aeternā (“for their eternal salvation, and at the same time that of those…”), in hyperbaton.